Art is a powerful tool for connection, transformation, and expression. And when it is combined with science, it can become an inspiring symbol of hope and progress. That's what happens with the trophy of Renata Thormann Procianoy Award, created by the visual artist Fernanda Frangetto, which gave shape to a symbol of recognition and celebration of the dedication of doctors and scientists to the cure of cancer.

Fernanda has a trajectory marked by multiple languages and the search for profound meanings, which connect the individual to the collective. Her story of overcoming and her sensitive eye for social and scientific causes made her the ideal artist to create the trophy that, since 2019, has accompanied the legacy of the Healing Project.

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Next, check out the exclusive interview that the Cura Project Institute conducted with the artist, where she shares her trajectory, her creative process, and the thrill of being part of this significant recognition.
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“My art is a path to self-knowledge and inner healing.”
‍Fernanda Frangetto

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Interview | Fernanda Frangetto

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1. How do you define yourself as an artist and how has your trajectory so far influenced the type of art you produce today?

I'm a mixed-media visual artist. I explore various techniques and materials. From organic materials, such as beeswax, to industrialized materials such as metal and acrylic. I use various forms of art: sculpture, installation, painting and drawing.

I won my first prize at the age of seven when I was entered in a painting contest held by Ultrafértil S/A, a factory designed by the American company Phillips Petroleum Co., where my father, a chemical engineer, worked.

I can say that science was also able to advance my career, because at that time I had a genetic condition, where my nails became more fragile. So I was able to make works with the use of brushes instead of finger painting on medical advice, and I was able to develop my skills with greater precision.

As a teenager I took an academic painting course. I began my career of studying sculpture in depth during a time of searching, after suffering a car accident, experienced at the age of 15. For a vain young woman, an exposed scar on her right arm popped through her eyes, and the driver's splenectomy was traumatic. Thanks to my mother's good recommendation, I was able to be taught by teachers, Giuliana Pedrazza and Carlos Alberto Garcia Arias, who helped me to re-establish self-esteem and art itself did the rest.

In these 34 years of artistic trajectory, the aesthetic and symbolic forms of my creations have greater meaning as the openness and intimacy of the observer's collective unconscious contact with the more subtle and contemplative forms. This is mainly due to the meditative vein that, for example, the sacred drawings in the current series suggest.

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2. The Renata Thormann Procianoy Prize trophy was created in 2019 for the first edition of the award. How was the invitation and what did it mean for you to develop a piece for recognition linked to science and care for life?

I am honored to have received the invitation to develop and execute the design of the Renata Thormann Procianoy Prize trophy.

It is important for me to create an affinity with the theme of the proposal of artistic projects, whether related to education, the environment, the social sector, or religion so that I can achieve something unique. It's not enough just to be something solid: I like to know deeply, to talk to the idealist of the proposed project until I find the vein that unites us.

Fernanda Schwyter, CEO of the Cura Project Institute, was present at Brazil Fashion Miami 2017 and learned about the trophy I had won for the event at the Faena Forum Cultural Center Miami Beach. Then, we worked together to support student programs at an annual philanthropic event, Gala - Gulliver Prep, in South Florida.

Also in 2017, I was the artist invited by the American Cancer Society to create a limited edition of the trophy to honor the Relay For Life event, in collaboration with the city of Doral, in South Florida, and the Commissioner's Office of Miami-Dade County, in the United States.

The invitation to create the design for the Renata Thormann Procianoy Prize came directly from Fernanda Schwyter. I was moved by the story of the Procianoy family and Renata T. P.'s dedication to finding a cure for her mother, Nora Thormann Procianoy. My namesake and I have an affinity in the search for faith that unites us and helps us to foster the ideals of the Healing Project.

The Scientific Prize, with the multidisciplinary support of professionals, is of exceptional value, much more than a simple prize, in its entirety of the global need for research to cure cancer.

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3. Tell me a bit about the concept of trophy art: what did you want to convey with art? What forms and elements did you choose and why?

The final representation of the two layers of acrylic print is minimalist. The upper front part bears the inscription Project Cura in the original colors and its description.

Below, the award title in black ink pigment, where the colored Cura logo is the central highlight, demonstrated in the circles in the background with the artist's signature on the lower right of the rectangular acrylic plate. It supports itself when supported on any flat surface.

A discreetly scaled frame and chromosome-shaped tones encircles the four ends of the pictorial field printed in the foreground. This organic form serves as a symbol, in harmony with research for the discovery of a cure for cancer, between a palette dialogue corresponding to cell mutations and inheritances transmitted by DNA, in alliance, like hand in hand, in repetitions of sections juxtaposed under acrylic.

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4. How was the process of creating and producing the piece?

The inspiration came from the CURA logo itself and the meaning of the Cura Project.

Initially, the process was developed in digital collage, graphic design and acrylic printing plans. Each piece undergoes chromatic adjustments of print data on the acrylic and aluminum plate, personalized with the name of the doctor, the awarded scientist.

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5. The Prize is now reaching its 7th edition and the trophy remains a strong symbol of that recognition. How do you feel to see your art perpetuating that legacy?

Being part of the legacy of the Prize with my artistic participation to honor medical doctors since its first edition transcends art itself and my achievement as an artist. Just as art can also be a path to inner healing, the Healing Project creates the ideal condition and union to stimulate scientific research.

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We are very grateful to the artist Fernanda Frangetto for sharing his story, his creative process and for having transformed the purpose of the Cura Project Institute into such a symbolic and significant piece. The trophy of Renata Thormann Procianoy Award carries a deep sense of connection between art, science, care and humanity.

We congratulate Fernanda for her inspiring trajectory and for continuing to create works that touch, connect, and perpetuate such noble causes. May your art continue to be a path of transformation and hope for all who encounter it.